


Say Love Don't Roam

by Skyler10



Series: Verse as in Music [5]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-04-19
Packaged: 2018-03-24 16:17:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3775207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyler10/pseuds/Skyler10
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a short fluff about Rose and Tentoo on a road trip when a certain song comes on the radio...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Say Love Don't Roam

**Author's Note:**

> Because I wanted Rose to hear about "the song" at some point. Intended to make it the start of a series but never did so here ya go.

Rose woke up from her nap to find they were about to cross the Welsh border. They were farther than she thought. With no TARDIS, Rose and her fiancé, the Doctor, were stuck driving to Cardiff. There they would meet up with Jackie, Pete and Tony, who had taken the zeppelin. They had been invited to tour the newly refurbished Torchwood extension office. The Doctor and Rose would have just taken the train, but they also planned to pick up parts for the baby TARDIS growing back home. They agreed it would be best to bring the equipment home in the car instead of trusting it would make it in one piece on the train ride back. Jeopardy-friendly, they were.

She stretched and turned towards the Doctor, only to find him wiping tears away, obviously hoping she hadn't noticed. She had.

"Hey, what is it?" She placed a hand on his bicep. Only after she started to trace slow, gentle circles with her finger did he clear his throat and begin.

"It's silly, I know..." He rolled his eyes. "You're here with me now. It's ridiculous." She understood "it" to be the tears he was furiously rubbing out of his eyes as fast as he could without driving them off the road.

"I won't laugh," she murmured in soft reassurance.

"This song. It was such a long time ago..." He faded off for a moment, lost in the memory.

"I don't recognize it." She frowned.

"No. No, it was right after I lost you. It was playing at Donna's wedding reception."

"Before the remote-controlled ornament bombs and the evil spider lady?"

"Yeah." He chuckled at how ordinary it was for them to have conversations involving malicious Christmas decorations and prehistoric aliens.

He got the hint that further explanation was required.

"There was a blonde girl dancing with a bloke at the reception, and well, for a minute there I saw you." His tone was meek now, all humor gone. He continued faster to end his embarrassment the quickest way. "The bloke dipped her down and it reminded me of New Earth, after Cassandra, after you were you again. You fell and I caught you."

"I never wanted you to let go," she admitted.

He smiled, knowing she not only meant it, but was trying to make it easier for him to open up to her.

"I didn't either," he replied. They quieted, just listening to the music.

"Say Something." She broke the silence. "That was it for me."

"What?" He shook away the memories.

"The one we heard on the radio on the way to the office and I had to change it? And you asked me what was wrong, but Jake was in the car?"

"Oh. Yeah?"

"Yeah. It came out while I was building the cannon and failing over and over to reach you. Sometimes I could see you through screens wherever you were. Even once on the TARDIS. I could see her in the background. Sometimes you looked so strong and so, well, you. But other times you were so scared or angry and... I wasn't there to hold your hand. I was supposed to be there and nothing I did to get back was working."

"And the song… 'Say Something,' was it?"

"It was this huge hit, on the radio all the time. At first it just made me emotional because it was such a sad song and I was exhausted. I hadn't slept in days. More stars were going out than ever and I was getting desperate. I don't know how anyone put up with me, to be honest. No one else had any idea how much I'd seen, how scared they should be. How scared I was. Then I was alone in my office one night really late when it came on. Memory after memory of us came back."

It was long past her turn to wipe away the salty streams running down her cheeks. She sighed and collected herself.

"I locked my door, played it again on my computer and cried for the whole song. It was the first time I fell apart in over a year. Since we said goodbye, really. Then I picked myself up, went home and slept better than I had since we started building that damn cannon because I knew. Somehow I knew I would find you. And not too long after, I did."

"Stop it, Rose!" The Doctor laughed as he rubbed his eyes again, which made her laugh through her tears as well.

"Look at us, just two ol softies," she teased affectionately. "Songs on the radio. Shameful, really."

“At least yours sounds sad. Mine’s swing,” the Doctor sighed.

Rose held back a giggle, but just barely. “So I reeled you in, huh?”

“Oh yes, Rose Tyler,” he replied with flourished syllables and grinned back at her.

“Well, I hope your body’s not really tired of traveling, because we’ve got a long way to go.”

“Not so very long for this trip,” the Doctor pointed to a sign announcing the next town. Rose took this to mean they were getting close.

She knew as soon as they arrived they would have a long evening with her family, but when she finally got him alone, she would show him how much she appreciated his romantic side.


End file.
